Adrian Brudaru

The Rise of the LLM Data Engineer

The real threat from LLMs isn’t that they’ll replace you, but that they look like they can. In this talk, we’ll unpack how perception, not performance, is driving AI displacement fears, and why every team data team now needs an LLM Data Engineer: someone who understands what these models can do, what they can’t, and how to lead through the fog of hype, pressure, and panic.

Adrian spent five years building end-to-end data systems for startups in Berlin before moving into freelance work. Over the next five years, he led data projects focused on building teams and infrastructure. Drawing from this experience, he founded dltHub to tackle the challenges he repeatedly encountered - this time at scale.